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Ecosystems and the Physical Environment

Almost completely isolated from everything in the Universe but sunlight, our planet Earth has often been compared to a vast spaceship whose life-support system consists of the living things that inhabit it. These living things produce oxygen, cleanse the air, adjust gases, transfer energy, and recycle waste products with great efficiency. Yet none of those processes would be possible without the nonliving physical environment of our space­ship Earth. Much of the climate to which living things have adapted is determined by the sun, which warms the planet, powers the hydrologic cycle (causes precipitation), and drives ocean cur­rents and circulation patterns in the atmosphere.

More on Ecosystems and the Physical Environment

  ●  THE CYCLING OF MATERIALS WITHIN ECOSYSTEMS

  ●  THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT